Your host Paul Booth chats with Cinematographer Checco Varese ASC about the Amazons series Jack Ryan and the challenges he faced shooting The 33.
Director of Photography Bio
Checco Varese, ASC recently wrapped It: Chapter Two for director Andy Muschietti, the sequel to last year’s box office hit. He also shot the first season of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, Amazon’s new take on Tom Clancy’s beloved fictional CIA agent, with John Krasinski starring in the titular role.
Previously, he shot the pilot for Fox’s upcoming legal drama Proven Innocent and director Jeffrey Nachmanoff’s sci-fi thriller, Replicas, with Keanu Reeves and Thomas Middleditch starring, in theaters January 11, 2019. Working with his longtime collaborator director Patricia Riggen, Varese lensed Miracles From Heaven, as well as Riggen’s The 33, based on the extraordinary real-life story of 33 miners trapped in a Chilean mine. His other feature credits include Riggen’s Girl in Progress, and second unit on Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim.
Thanks to his prolific body of work, Varese has established a reputation as the unofficial ‘pilot guy.’ He has lensed nearly two dozen season starters which, more often than not, go on to be picked up to series: FX’s The Strain; A&E’s The Returned; ABC Family’s The Fosters; Melrose Place for the CW; and The Defenders for CBS. And who can forget the True Blood pilot? This iconic series went on for seven seasons.
Born in Peru, Varese began his career in the mid-1980’s, spending nearly a decade shooting news coverage and documentaries in major zones of conflict: Latin America (Chiapas Uprising, Salvador and Nicaragua Wars, Panama Invasion, Colombia Drug War, Shining Path, Chile’s Military Junta); The Caribbean (Haiti Crisis); Europe (Bosnia Crisis, Chechnya Crisis); the Middle East (Gulf War, West Bank and Gaza Strip Crisis) and Africa (South African Riots and the Rwanda Crisis).
